Canonical's Launchpad to be Open-Sourced

Canonical, the company behind the Linux distro Ubuntu, will open-source the software development platform Launchpad.

The Publication of the code under the AGPLv3 will coincide with the release of version 3.0 of the online Ubuntu development system at the end of July.

The entire code however, will not be set free. Some heavily customized components, essential for Canonical's workflow will remain under wraps. This should not affect the functioning of the collaboration platform and Canonical insists there are enough replacement components available.

With much of the Launchpad code already modularized, individual packages will be released over the next six months. A process which has already begun.